Piezoelectric and strain properties of Ba(Ti1−xZrx)O3 ceramics

The polarization and strain behavior of Ba(Ti1−xZrx)O3 (x=0–0.3) ceramics are studied. The unipolar strain levels of ∼0.18% at 40 kV/cm and of ∼0.25% at ∼120 kV/cm with small hysteresis were obtained for the ceramics with 0.03⩽x⩽0.08. The remnant polarization is ∼13–18 μC/cm2 for 0.03⩽x⩽0.08 and below 2 μC/cm2 for 0.15⩽x⩽0.3 at room temperature. The electromechanical coupling coefficient K33=56.5% and the piezoelectric stain coefficient d33=236 pC/N were obtained for the ceramics with x=0.05. These results indicated that the Ba(Ti1−xZrx)O3 system is a promising lead-free high strain material for applications.